Sangas From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 15 hours ago) and read 8540 times:
Flight International 16 May 2006 by Max Kingsley-Jones:
A380 Freighter Delayed As Emirates Switches Orders
Airbus confirms six-month slip in aircraft's delivery to launch customer FedEx
London - The A380 Freighter suffered two blows last week - the programme has slipped by six months [delivery to FedEx is delayed from August 2008 to Early 2009] and Emirates has switched its orders to the passenger version because of delay in finalisation of the aircraft's specifications.
...despite the slip, "the specification development for the Freighter is progressing very well." [said David Sutton, managing director of aircraft development, acquisitions and sales in FedEx's A380 programme office]
"...Final definition and specification freeze were proving elusive," says Emirates president (airline) Tim Clark. "We need to protect our delivery positions and switched the order to the passenger version. Once the freighter is ready, we will have another look."
Mr. Clark seems to be a lot less sanguine about the status of the A380F program than Mr. Sutton?
Slz396 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 14 hours ago) and read 8361 times:
Well, since basically the entire A380 program got delayed roughly 6 months, it shouldn't come as a surprise the freighter version subsequently got delayed too?
What is remarkable is that Emirates apparently does not want to 'waste' any of its delivery slots and thus immediately changed their 2 (delayed) F slots to PAX versions, so that must mean their initial order of 43 (?) pax A380 was still a conservative order!
Unless these 2 additional pax versions happen to bring the number of ordered planes to exactly what Emirates thinks to need, this last minute change gives away their intention to order more A380s later! I am stunned by the number of A380s this airline apparently seems fit to operate.
Sangas From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 13 hours ago) and read 8243 times:
Quoting Slz396 (Reply 2): Well, since basically the entire A380 program got delayed roughly 6 months, it shouldn't come as a surprise the freighter version subsequently got delayed too?
From FI article:
"[Last May] we announced that the whole A380 programme has slipped by six months, and the new delivery date for the A380F is early 2009," says Airbus. "There has been one single delay to the programme." However, as late as last September, FedEx [Mr. Sutton], which has 10 Engine Alliance GP7200-powered A380Fs on order, was expecting to receive its first three freighters in 2008 [August & September].
Given this discrepancy, taken together with Mr. Clark's comments, it would not be unreasonable to conclude that the A380F slip reported in the article is a new hiccup.
Quoting Slz396 (Reply 2): What is remarkable is that Emirates apparently does not want to 'waste' any of its delivery slots and thus immediately changed their 2 (delayed) F slots to PAX versions, so that must mean their initial order of 43 (?) pax A380 was still a conservative order!
Unless these 2 additional pax versions happen to bring the number of ordered planes to exactly what Emirates thinks to need, this last minute change gives away their intention to order more A380s later!
Perhaps, yet it does seem odd that Mr. Clark would make this move now if he has known about the A380F slip for nearly a year.
FVTu134 From Russia, joined Aug 2005, 170 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 12 hours ago) and read 8184 times:
From what I understood earlier, I always thought that the delays on the A380 programme were due to the complex cabin outfitting requirements of various airlines.
Now except for a lot of isolation and cargo floors, there is not a lot of "cabin outfitting" to do on cargo aircraft. Does that mean that the entire programme was delayed becaues of cabin issues, and as such the freighter suffered as well? Or does this have something to do with the GP7200 delays?
Can't wait to see those freighters in action, although I wish they would just keep on flying those DC8-62's
who decided that a Horizon should be HORIZONtal???
Sangas From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 5, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 11 hours ago) and read 7933 times:
Quoting FVTu134 (Reply 4): From what I understood earlier, I always thought that the delays on the A380 programme were due to the complex cabin outfitting requirements of various airlines.
Now except for a lot of isolation and cargo floors, there is not a lot of "cabin outfitting" to do on cargo aircraft. Does that mean that the entire programme was delayed becaues of cabin issues, and as such the freighter suffered as well? Or does this have something to do with the GP7200 delays?
You make some excellent points. The only other thing I can think of is that the less than satisfactory "wing break" results are impacting the freighter more than pax version of the A388?
DeltaDC9 From United States of America, joined Apr 2006, 2844 posts, RR: 4 Reply 6, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 10 hours ago) and read 7839 times:
Why do I get the feeling that FedEx is the only serious buyer here?
UPS seems to be at risk, given that they seem to have wanted out of the A300 deal more than they wanted the 380. Just my gut feel here. Also UPS going for new 747's when they never have before makes this order a little shaky in my eyes. Seemed like a "me too" order so FedEx wouldn't hog up all the free publicity.
If FedEx planes are delayed, doesn't that mean UPS planes are delayed too?
Dont take life too seriously because you will never get out of it alive - Bugs Bunny
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9292 posts, RR: 12 Reply 7, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 10 hours ago) and read 7730 times:
Quoting DeltaDC9 (Reply 6): Why do I get the feeling that FedEx is the only serious buyer here?
Maybe because there has not been a single order placed for an A380 in over a year and half and now yet another delay..? Trust me, Boeing Sales people are knocking on the doors of these airlines and making some sweet deals.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
Irobertson From Canada, joined Apr 2006, 601 posts, RR: 4 Reply 12, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 9 hours ago) and read 7501 times:
Question about the implication of these A380 orders: will Fedex be adding to their fleet with these or using them as replacements? Just curious as to whether this spells the demise of any of the MD-10s or 11s... I sure hope not.
Sangas From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 9 hours ago) and read 7480 times:
Quoting 7E72004 (Reply 9): WHat is the earliest that we may see it here at IND??
Not sure when IND was scheduled to see the beginning of FX A380F operations. According to FI/Mr. Sutton last September the tentative delivery schedule was:
FedEx, which will be the launch operator of the A380-800F, is due to take its first three of 10 firmly ordered A380-800Fs between August and September 2008. Three more will follow in each of the next two years, with the final aircraft arriving in June 2011. The carrier also has at least 10 options for the aircraft.
Manni From South Korea, joined Nov 2001, 4221 posts, RR: 23 Reply 15, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 9 hours ago) and read 7397 times:
Quoting EMBQA (Reply 12): Those were pending orders and not really new.
No, they were not. Kingfisher announced in Paris (june) last year that they will buy A380's, UPS announced this in januari 2005, IIRC China Eastern also announced this around the same time UPS did. All of them firmed up their orders last year, UPS did this in december.
Quoting EMBQA (Reply 12): I have not seen the count of 159 change for a long time.
Certain websites count orders and commitments together. The last commitment was made in Paris, 11 months ago. But your patience might be rewarded, the ILA opens tomorrow and Farnborough is around the corner.
Sangas From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 17, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 9 hours ago) and read 7342 times:
Quoting EMBQA (Reply 12): 10- UPS.. (firmed up an existing order)
Actually, it was the conversion of 37 A306Fs on firm order to 10 A388Fs. IIRC, at list prices, that order conversion represented about a $1.5B net reduction in sales value/future revenue for Airbus.
PolymerPlane From United States of America, joined May 2006, 991 posts, RR: 3 Reply 19, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 8 hours ago) and read 7256 times:
Quoting FVTu134 (Reply 4): From what I understood earlier, I always thought that the delays on the A380 programme were due to the complex cabin outfitting requirements of various airlines.
Now except for a lot of isolation and cargo floors, there is not a lot of "cabin outfitting" to do on cargo aircraft. Does that mean that the entire programme was delayed becaues of cabin issues, and as such the freighter suffered as well? Or does this have something to do with the GP7200 delays?
Well even without the bowling alley and tennis court inside A380 right now, we have not even seen one aircraft fitted with customer's interior. I thought if the customer's interior is the cause of the delay they would have finished flight testing and deal with the interior fitting right now. The aircraft should have been in service with SQ by now. Very effective way to p*ss off your customers. Good Job Airbus!
EMBQA From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 9292 posts, RR: 12 Reply 21, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 8 hours ago) and read 7205 times:
Quoting Scorpio (Reply 21): I'm sorry, where exactly was it that I talked about the UPS order?
The pending orders I spoke of and you quoted me on and questioned are the UPS orders from Jan 2005.
Now... we need to get back to the subject at hand.
Yes, any delay in delivery hurts both the airline and the manufacture. Airlines have set their business plan into action based around that delivery, and the manufacture dosn't need the bad press and loss of confidance from other customers and potential clients.
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
Scorpio From Belgium, joined Oct 2001, 4934 posts, RR: 46 Reply 23, posted (7 years 1 month 1 week 8 hours ago) and read 7102 times:
Quoting EMBQA (Reply 22): The pending orders I spoke of and you quoted me on and questioned are the UPS orders from Jan 2005.
No they're not. You were talking about ALL orders placed last year. The UPS order was only one of them. It was only after my first post here that you edited your reply 12.
Quite a simplistic statement - not all upstarts are the same
Not hardly.. At least here in the US since Deregulation there have been over 200+ airlines formed both on paper and those that actually flew. Only 3 or 4 are still around today.
jetBlue
Airtran
Frontier
America West.. (soon to be USAirways)
..and that is all that come to mind. Sorry folks.. Southwest is pre-deregulation.
[Edited 2006-05-15 17:36:00]
"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"
25 A319XFW: And we won't be seeing customer interiors until the 1st SQ aircraft is delivered - they are very sensitive about the competitors seeing their finishe
26 PlaneHunter: Fine, but Kingfisher is backed by the United Breweries Group, the world's second largest brewer. Head of the company is Dr. Vijay Mallya, a very succ
27 PolymerPlane: Even if we will not see SQ's final configuration, If the interior fitting is the main problem, A380 should have finished its test fly by now and focu
28 Sangas: The Pritzker Family, the fabulously wealthy owners of the Hyatt hotel chain and many other companies, tried to revive Braniff in the Eighties, lost t
29 A319XFW: They need to get 2500 FH - they just passed the 1000 FH mark with 2 test aircraft. Soon there will be 3 more.
30 PlaneHunter: True, but I didn't suggest that. I simply pointed out that Kingfisher has lots of financial support and a smart businessman behind - unlike masses of
31 Jacobin777: they were my neighbors for many years...
32 Sangas: My point was that you could say the identical thing about the Pritzkers in the Eighties with Braniff, in fact, the late Jay Pritzker was considered b
33 PlaneHunter: That's all fine - but it won't change my opinion that one cannot generalize about start-ups. Additionally, we're talking about India here - and Kingf
34 Katekebo: Has Airbus (or FedEx) given any explanation/justification for this delay? Could this have anything to do with the failed wing test? Maybe Airbus has r
35 Trex8: could it be engine development delays, weren't there some recent reports that Emirates taking the first GP700 engined A380 may be delayed possibly due
36 CX747: This program is having its fair share of delays. The 747-400 program had the same type of issues though and did not have a great 1st year in service.
41 Sangas: Perhaps UPS shares Mr. Clark's apparent frustration with "final definition and specification freeze proving to be elusive?" One has to wonder why Mr.
42 Sangas: The full text of the Flight International Article is now available online: http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles...+switches+orders+to+passenger.html
43 Poitin: I doubt EK ever needed a package delivery supervan like the A380F and finally figured it out. Still, what are they going to do with 45 A380's?
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